Yahoo! updates the features part of their website daily. today, they have an article about a newly discovered painting of the composer Wolfgang Mozart. the writer of the article tells us why she cares so much that there is a new portrait of Mozart available. she says, and i quote:

Why do I care? Why do any of us long to know about the private lives of the artists whose work moves us most? The answer to this question is at once obvious and elusive: We want to know whether we have anything in common with them. Samuel Johnson, a great biographer who was himself the subject of a great biography, summed up that near-irresistible urge when he told James Boswell that "I esteem biography, as giving us what comes near to ourselves, what we can turn to use."

i guess the same can be said about my fascination with celebrities. i've been wondering lately about why i can't seem to stop watching gossip shows like "E! News" or "The Daily 10". why do i still go to websites like People.com?

the writer says that we are care about these people because we want to find out if we have anything similar to them. i guess this is true. we want to know what restaurant celebrities dine at so maybe we can check it out for ourselves. we want to know where they're buying their houses, taking their vacations, where their clothes can be bought, the designer they admire, etc. unconciously, we find oursleves wanting to live that life - the life of the beautiful, rich, and famous.

we're hooked because we want so much to be like them.

i guess this also explains why i'm not drawn to the news. i have no desire to be a politician or a social worker. i don't want to know what happens in house sessions and whatnot. it's not glamorous at all.

what do you think? does this make sense or is this complete bogus?